He further informed Captain Bonneville that the competition between the Rocky Mountain andAmerican Fur Companies which had led to such nefarious stratagems and deadly feuds, was at anend;
they having divided the country between them, allotting boundaries within which each was totrade
and hunt, so as not to interfere with the other.
In company with Wyeth were travelling two men of science; Mr. Nuttall, the botanist; thesame who
ascended the Missouri at the time of the expedition to Astoria; and Mr. Townshend, anornithologist;
from these gentlemen we may look forward to important information concerning these interestingregions. There were three religious missionaries, also, bound to the shores of the Columbia, tospread
the light of the Gospel in that far wilderness.
After riding for some time together, in friendly conversation, Wyeth returned to his party,and Captain
Bonneville continued to press forward, and to gain ground. At night he sent off the sadly soberand
moralizing chief of the Hudson's Bay Company, under a proper escort, to rejoin his people; hisroute
branching off in a different direction. The latter took a cordial leave of his host, hoping, on somefuture occasion, to repay his hospitality in kind.
In the morning the captain was early on the march; throwing scouts out far ahead, to scourhill and
dale, in search of buffalo. He had confidently expected to find game in abundance, on thehead-waters of the Portneuf; but on reaching that region, not a track was to be seen.
At length, one of the scouts, who had made a wide sweep away to the head-waters of theBlackfoot
River, discovered great herds quietly grazing in the adjacent meadows. He set out on his return,to
report his discoveries; but night overtaking him, he was kindly and hospitably entertained at thecamp
of Wyeth. As soon as day dawned he hastened to his own camp with the welcome intelligence;and
about ten o'clock of the same morning, Captain Bonneville's party were in the midst of the game.
The packs were scarcely off the backs of the mules, when the runners, mounted on thefleetest horses,
were full tilt after the buffalo. Others of the men were busied erecting scaffolds, and othercontrivances, for jerking or drying meat; others were lighting great fires for the same purpose;soon
the hunters began to make their appearance, bringing in the choicest morsels of buffalo meat;these
were placed upon the scaffolds, and the whole camp presented a scene of singular hurry andactivity.
At daylight the next morning, the runners again took the field, with similar success; and, after aninterval of repose made their third and last chase, about twelve o'clock; for by this time, Wyeth'sparty
was in sight. The game being now driven into a valley, at some distance, Wyeth was obliged to fixhis camp there; but he came in the evening to pay Captain Bonneville a visit. He was accompaniedby Captain Stewart, the amateur traveller; who had not yet sated his appetite for the adventurouslife
of the wilderness. With him, also, was a Mr. M'Kay, a half-breed; son of the unfortunateadventurer
of the same name who came out in the first maritime expedition to Astoria and was blown up inthe Tonquin. His son had grown up in the employ of the British fur companies; and was aprime hunter,
and a daring partisan. He held, moreover, a farm in the valley of the Wallamut.
The three visitors, when they reached Captain Bonneville's camp, were surprised to find noone in it
but himself and three men; his party being dispersed in all directions, to make the most of theirpresent
chance for hunting. They remonstrated with him on the imprudence of remaining with so trifling aguard in a region so full of danger. Captain Bonneville vindicated the policy of his conduct. Henever
hesitated to send out all his hunters, when any important object was to be attained; and experiencehad taught him that he was most secure when his forces were thus distributed over thesurrounding
country. He then was sure that no enemy could approach, from any direction, without beingdiscovered by his hunters; who have a quick eye for detecting the slightest signs of the proximityof
Indians; and who would instantly convey intelligence to the camp.
The captain now set to work with his men, to prepare a suitable entertainment for his guests.
It was
a time of plenty in the camp; of prime hunters' dainties; of buffalo humps, and buffalo tongues;and
roasted ribs, and broiled marrow-bones: all these were cooked in hunters' style; served up with aprofusion known only on a plentiful hunting ground, and discussed with an appetite that wouldastonish
the puny gourmands of the cities. But above all, and to give a bacchanalian grace to this trulymasculine repast, the captain produced his mellifluous keg of home-brewed nectar, which hadbeen
so potent over the senses of the veteran of Hudson's Bay. Potations, pottle deep, again wentround;
never did beverage excite greater glee, or meet with more rapturous commendation. The partieswere
fast advancing to that happy state which would have insured ample cause for the next day'srepentance; and the bees were already beginning to buzz about their ears, when a messenger camespurring to the camp with intelligence that Wyeth's people had got entangled in one of those deepand
frightful ravines, piled with immense fragments of volcanic rock, which gash the whole countryabout
the head-waters of the Blackfoot River. The revel was instantly at an end; the keg of sweet andpotent
home-brewed was deserted; and the guests departed with all speed to aid in extricating theircompanions from the volcanic ravine. [Return to Contents].
